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AmeriCares is monitoring the situation in thhe Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Megi. The tropical cyclone began building in the Pacific and hit the northern Philippines as a Category 5 storm with wind gusts up to 120 mph.
Help AmeriCares Respond »
AmeriCares has supplied our local partners with medical aid needed to mount initial disaster relief efforts. Emergency preparedness is part of AmeriCares ongoing strategy in the Philippines, which straddles the Pacific Cyclone Belt.
Emergency relief items currently stocked include nutritional supplements, basic medicines, specialized antibiotics to fight waterborne infections common in the aftermath of typhoons. In addition to medical aid, AmeriCares has also supplied our local partners with disaster relief supplies such as flashlights, jackets, buckets and other essential items.
The Philippines ranks among the world’s most disaster-prone countries due to its location on the typhoon belt and the Pacific earthquake rim – known as the “Ring of Fire”. Typhoons, mudslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions cause especially heavy damage and high rates of fatalities due to the inaccessibility of vulnerable communities on many of the islands.
Since 1985, AmeriCares has delivered more than $172 million worth of medicines, medical supplies and humanitarian aid to the Philippines. In the fall of 2009, AmeriCares mounted massive relief efforts to help survivors of back-to-back typhoons which flooded millions out of their homes. AmeriCares delivered crucial airlifts and shipments included purifiers to provide 10,000 families with safe water, medical aid worth over $3.2 million and rehydration fluids that protected thousands of children from dehydration.